#haven't read it in years

[rubybaely]

rewatched the darkest minds movie and rereading the book and i think that

a) movie still sucks but

b) i don't think they ever could have made a faithful and interesting movie bc so much of what makes the book and ruby compelling is her internal dialogue and her mental development and it's just so hard to translate to the screen in any way

(though the movie didn't seem to care abt giving ruby any development at all, even if they had tried it wouldn't have hit as hard as the book imo)

[eyes-of-nine]

pls assume i'm thinking about this moment 24/7 all week every week

[phoenixyfriend]

Scott Westerfeld is up there with Suzanne Collins as "Sci Fi futuristic dystopia authors who had Something To Say And Damn Well Dedicated Themselves To That Something."

[mountainhaunt]

feels like time for my favorite of john darnielle's new year's benedictions. he peaked at this one

[monstermonger]

Micro comic Summer is back!

Here's my tiny tale from last year, of some kiddos finding a hurt baby dragon, and taking care of it until the dragons return next spring.

[effen-draws]

These two:-))

Close-ups under cut:

[a-pigeons-soliloquy]

been reading non-hannibal fanfic for the first time in like 2 years and have come to the tragic realisation that the hannibal fandom has ruined me when it comes to fic quality

like my standards are so ridiculously high now. the bar is on the moon

you've all ruined me. RUINED ME I SAY

[flo-n-flon]

I want to do with you what new spring does with the cherry trees. (x x)

[buglaur]

fireworks show 🎆

material preview version is very cute also :)

i struggled with the lighting on this one so badly, but it turned out alright in the end.

i actually started it last year for new years 2023 but never got around to finishing it, hence no progress pictures this time sadly lol. i do have a very low-res, first draft, test gif though

stills 🥳

[braimin]

Zoro and his lack of true connection to the ocean.

Zoro hungers for a good fight; he only see the water as a means of travel, a way to get to his dream. And Sanji longs for the sea, he chases after waters that collect fish from the whole world. Zoro was never really drawn to the ocean the way Sanji was, the way most of the crew was. When he joined, he was drawn to Luffy, his energy and the promise of something entertaining. He wasn't thinking about the ocean, he was completely indifferent to it.

But Sanji was already reaching out for the sea before he ever knew them, already wanting to find his all blue. The majority of the crew already had a connection to the ocean before they decided to join Luffy; Nami wanted to chart the waters, Usopp wanted to see the things his father did and become a warrior of the sea, Franky builds boats meant to sail the entire ocean, Brook was called by the song of the waves, Jimbe is a child of the sea herself. But Zoro didn't, he wanted to be the greatest swordsman, he didn't care about living on the ocean until Luffy asked him to join him.

Zoro's relationship to the sea is different from the others. Especially Sanji's. Sanji loves the water, he can watch the waves for hours, his interest never wains. His joy in swimming, in seeing fish, in the sound of the waves runs so deep. Even the smell of the salt water pulls Sanji in, he can find the shoreline from that alone, no matter where he is on an island. It all lights something up in Sanji that Zoro will simply never understand.

He's not upset over it, but sometimes it is weird to not get what it is about the water that pulls him in. Zoro spent the majority of his life on land, he's never felt the sea's call. Even now as he travels on it he just can't feel whatever it is that the others feel. His dream doesn't involve the water in any way, he could achieve it and never go out to sea again and it truly wouldn't effect him. But for Sanji, the ocean is his dream. There's no separating him from it without killing his ambition. It truly is like Sanji was born from the sea, his ties are unbreakable.

So when all is said and done, when Luffy becomes the pirate king, when Sanji finds his All Blue, Zoro feels lost. He's won his title and achieved his dream. So have the others, and as they move on and build the rest of their lives Zoro isn't sure how to move forward. His instinct is to fight, but Luffy's interest in adventure and exploration is different now, there aren't as many fights as there used to be. And Sanji has a home on the All Blue that he doesn't intend to leave. It's very hard for Zoro to take his mind out of the soldier mindset he's been in for years. He doesn't need to protect anyone anymore, they all can take care of themselves; they've reached their goals, there's no need for uphill battles and risking their lives. Zoro doesn't know what to do, where to go.

He didn't ever think about what'd he'd do when everything was over. He figured the fight to be the worlds greatest swordsman would be long, then he promised to help Luffy reach his dream and he assumed that would also take a long time. Zoro thought that once he reached one of those goal, he'd just move onto the next. He picked up his dreams from other people he didn't have a plan for what would come next. He doesn't know how to pick path for himself, or where to start.

He travels with Luffy for a while after. It just feels like what he's supposed to do. But something is missing. He can feel it calling out for him, but he can't tell what it is. It's frustrating. Zoro wonders if this pull is what the other's felt for the sea, and if it is, then why is he not satisfied yet? He's out sailing the ocean, why is it still calling for him?

It takes a while, but after a few years of wondering it finally clicks. Luffy decides they're going to the All Blue, he misses Sanji, and Zoro is happy to join, he misses the cook's food. As soon as he sees Sanji's restaurant there's a feeling of peace settling in his chest. When they dock and step foot on the ship it really hits him. Long waves of blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and Sanji is so happy to see them; he welcomes them as Luffy wraps around him in a hug. There's a sense of serenity that washes over him.

It's not the sea that's been drawing him in, it's Sanji. His Sanji, his All Blue. Zoro decides then and there he's not leaving, regardless of what the cook may say.

[horsechestnut]

AU to add to the list of AUs I'll never write: All of the Robins are de-aged to the age they were when they became Robin. Their memories are also reset to that point, and somehow they're in their Robin suits.

So you have a 16 year old Steph, desperately trying to wrangle 4 feral children who look nearly identical and won't tell her their names because "you do know what a secret identity is, don't you Stephanie?"

[corvys-clover]

"I need to get out of a toxic relationship."

Thinking about my favorite guy again <3

(this one's from back in July after I first saw the film)

Commissions open!

@corvys.clover on Instagram

[hedgehog-moss]

My top 10 nonfiction reads of 2023 (the asterisked ones are in French with no translation as of yet) :

Belle Greene, Alexandra Lapierre

The Indomitable Marie-Antoinette, Simone Bertière

Reporter: A Memoir, Seymour Hersh

Red Carpet: Hollywood, China and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, Erich Schwartzel

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, Patrick Keefe

Servir les riches, Alizée Delpierre*

La Comtesse Greffulhe : L’ombre des Guermantes, Laure Hillerin*

Le Courage de la nuance, Jean Birnbaum*

The Book Collectors of Daraya, Delphine Minoui

Flowers of Fire: The Inside Story of South Korea's Feminist Movement, Hawon Jung

[kindledrose]

LIFESTUCK ?!?! (pt 2 here!) (pt 3)

i was sick a couple days ago and spent like 12 hours straight doing nothing but classpecting life series characters and then was like Yeah i have to draw this now. so here's some sillies 👍 (super long classpect ramble under cut because i spent far too long on it not to share hfshjf)

quick note: i really really love @/classpect-navelgazing's theories and used them for a lot of the ideas here. go check their blog out it rules :]

ok you guys flower ranchers (scott tango jimmy) are making me so insane for this au specifically because of this idea i had about doom/life players. doom in true canon is related to inevitability, fate, and knowledge of the specific rules that keep the characters trapped within their story, right. and life is sort of related to healing, physically and mentally, within the confines of the game. so within this au, the aspect of life refers to the rules within the game that the players can see and are aware of (last life’s trading lives system + boogeyman, third life’s soulmate mechanic, secret life’s tasks, etc.). life players have some amount of dominion over these elements (depending on their class, of course). doom on the other hand refers to everything surrounding the games (stuff like admin powers, the world barrier, and whatever happens to the players after they die). 

as a mage of doom, scot (his name is so funny to me. like yeah he sure is) has a bunch of intrinsic knowledge about the way the games function on a logistical level. he’s like a guy who read the script a while ago and forgot all the characters’ names but knows the basic plot and how it’s going to end. or who knows all the ins and outs of tech crew and for whom the apparent magic of the show for the audience is lost on, since he knows how it’s being done. the thing is, scot isn't especially able to act on this knowledge during the game. what director wants someone in the audience — or one of the actors — taking all the magic out of the show, spoiling how it works and how it ends? no, it’s best if they keep that knowledge to themselves — and so scot’s narratively unable to affect the stories of those around him, even his close friends who he’d want to help. he’s aware of this, of course, which makes him more than a little depressed, as he can see the futility of it all and can’t even explain to anyone what’s going on and how the game works. (the only story he’s able to affect, of course, is his own. which. depressed doom player + mage martyr complex + guy who Really cares about his friends is not necessarily a good combination.)

the amount of stock i put in the idea of gendered classes is close to zero so tangoe gets to be a maid of life because ohh my goodness. i like the theory (thanks classpect-navelgazing) of life as “the aspect of affluence,” where life players usually enter the game with some kind of material wealth or status that helps their position in some way. i also like the idea that maid players start the game with a surplus of their aspect but often end up feeling as if they’re only seen as a provider of that specific thing as a result of this, and so end up longing for something else instead. this primarily applies to last life tango because that’s the season i’m most familiar with lol, but i thought the way he started out with so many lives there and quickly dwindled as a result of everyone taking from him and only him was Really interesting. mans has all the luck of the game he could need, but only wants friends to actually be able to live with. being a life player also ties into his little gambling games and things (again, dominion over stuff within the overarching game/story, but nothing beyond that).

then we get to jimi (again fantastic name). the basic premise of an heir is that they’re played by their aspect, right and Oh Boy is jimmy played by life in the life series. i don’t personally know much about anything he’s done other than heehoo canary guy but along with the previously stated points it’s So fun to see him as a life player because it allows for some really clearly contrast between the way he interacts with tangoe and scot based on their aspects. i really like the idea of scot being like “you’re a life player jimi. it's in your name. the game is not going to let you die” and jimi like “you really think so? aw thanks man” neither of them knowing that dying as a life player in this game is literally like in the job description. (ok. i kind of feel like i’m letting jimi down by basing his story so far around other people.. but this is just for fun and i can always change it later)

(also i could easily have put tangoe and jimi as doom players too but for the fact that i don’t think they necessarily see through the game as much as scot does (or at all). and so life it is.)

feel free to ask me questions abt them!!! i have so many thoughts about this bro 

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

In HtN Ianthe claims she helped Coronabeth pretend to be a necromancer for over twenty years but she's twenty-two, which must mean she did necromancy since she was one year old contradicting herself in GtN when she reveals she's been doing Coronabeth's work since she was six years old. Did Ianthe lie? Or did the author make a mistake? Or is this hinting that something deeper is going on?

[heilos]

The funniest comments I've seen on our Mystery Skulls Animated Arthur and Vivi Makeship plush teaser images are people thinking the silhouettes are Dirk and Roxy from Homestuck lol.